Orleans Parish elections supervisor still locked out of City Hall

The office responsible for monitoring elections in New Orleans remained closed Tuesday after Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration changed the locks over the weekend.

Betsy Stoner, executive director of the Board of Supervisors of Elections for Orleans Parish, is using a desk and a chair in board member Louis Gurvich's office on Martin Luther King Boulevard, but there's not much she can do there. All her papers and computers are behind bolted doors on the sixth floor of City Hall.

"It's just really pathetic for this to happen," said Clerk of Criminal Court Arthur Morrell, who is also a supervisory board member. "I'm sure there's an office somewhere they can find for her."

Deputy Mayor Cedric Grant responded that "the city stands ready to assist in the relocation of this office, and we look forward to resolving the matter."

The Board of Supervisors of Elections monitors voting and reviews state laws, making recommendations to lawmakers and recording any improprieties. Besides Morrell and Gurvich, Registrar of Voters Sandra Wilson, City Councilman James Gray and former Councilman Jay Batt are members.

The closure of Stoner's office comes about two weeks before the three-day August qualifying period for the Oct. 19 election is scheduled to begin.

Morrell said the confusion began with a May 31 letter to his office from Grant demanding the office space for homeland security operations. Morrell said he informed the administration that while he handles Stoner's payroll, she doesn't work for him and her paycheck ultimately comes from the city. The board hired Stoner, and only the full board can fire her, he said.

Because Stoner didn't work for him, Morrell said he wasn't sure the administration's actions were retribution for his demand that Landrieu fully fund the clerk of court's office. For two years, Morrell has chastised the mayor for cutting his office's budget, ultimately suing the city in October.

After receiving the May letter, Morrell said he directed the administration to contact Batt, chairman of the supervisory board. But the administration continued to write Morrell, telling him on July 12 that Stoner had to be out of her office by July 17.

"We have made every effort to be cooperative in this matter to no avail," Grant wrote.

"Shuffling office space is fairly common at City Hall and I've never encountered so much resistance," Grant said Monday in a prepared statement. "For more than 60 days, I tried to resolve this matter in a professional manner, even offering to assist with the move and provide storage. The city is in no way responsible for providing office space to the employee of the Board of Elections Supervisors."

Grant went on to say that the administration needed the space to expand its capital projects office, not for homeland security as Morrell had indicated.

But Batt said Tuesday that the administration hasn't reached out to the board, despite several emails and attempts to contact the mayor's office.

"We really feel this is a miscommunication, and one side really hasn't communicated with the other," he said.

He said that the supervisory board specifically asked to sit down with Landrieu's chief administrative officer, Andy Kopplin, to discuss relocating Stoner.